198 Miscellanies. 
tore away from the lower, and after ascending about one hundred 
feet upset and came down. It seemed to me from the strings, &c. 
broken, to have had a force of several pounds. 
I have heard nothing of my apparatus since J dismissed it. In 
the course it took it would pass over a level, woody and thinly set- 
tled tract till it came near Lake Erie, then it would be at a high 
elevation, and might not catch the eye of many individuals. If I 
calculated its rate nearly correctly it would have gone over two hun- 
dred miles before sunset. This would carry it in a right line to the 
extremity of Ohio or Michigan. It may however have been tossed 
about by counter currents on Lake Erie and sunk there, or some 
accident may have happened to it from the rent, which however was 
near the bottom, and it may have had to come down in mid course 
and landed in the woods unseen. I do not think it has been caught 
by any one in Canada or I should have heard of it, as my address 
was attached to it. 
‘ Cui bono.’ It is a new power and all such have at last become 
of use. But I think the Sun Flyer, if kept flying,—(and were its 
nature understood, this would be an easy matter, for, though it comes 
to the earth with sun set it would rise with him on the morning,) 
might be made to communicate to us interesting facts concerning 
the regions it visits—their temperature, currents, &c. Again, a large 
one, forty or forty five feet diameter, would easily carry up a man, 
and if made of proper materials would be safe and more manageable 
than a balloon, as by means of a valve its power of ascent and de- 
scent would be almost unlimited, and all advantage might be taken 
of varying currents, and the effect of inclined planes, giving diagonal 
movements. It is also to be considered that sunshine costs noth- 
ing.* 
8. Extract of a letter from Mr. Charles Fox, “relative to the 
motion of the melted grease in a candle while burning.” 
My Dear Str,—My attention was lately called to the motion of 
the melted grease in a candle while burning, and which I am puz- 
zled to account for: did you ever notice the following? 
* Clouds too come without cost, and the shading of the sky would of course 
bring down the voyager. Would this be prevented by artificial heat, or in what 
manner would the ingenious inventor propose to prevent a descent in dangerous 
circumstances—on the sea, or a dense forest, a mountain precipice, &c. ?—Ep. 
